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Project Proposal Abstract: The Fish and Wildlife Service has partnered with the Southern Fire Exchange to co-sponsor a three day symposium to be hosted by the Alligator River National Wildlife Refuge in Northeastern North Carolina. The goal of the proposed symposium is to increase the knowledge base for the issues regarding the management of forested wetlands with fire in an environment affected by climate change. A wide audience of local and regional land and resource managers, educators, researchers and planners will benefit from attending or reading the proceedings from this workshop
The majority of federal managed wetland habitats along the Atlantic Coast contain wetlands such as marsh, pocosins, swamps and savannahs. In forested wetlands, fire can either improve or damage ecosystem health in these areas depending on how and when it occurs. In some cases refuge managers are hesitant to implement fire as a tool because of the unanswered questions about the short and long range impacts to the wetland ecosystem and wildlife species that are dependent upon them. Stressors due to global climate change such as accelerated sea level rise greatly compound management decisions for wetland resources. Impacts from shoreline erosion, inundation, and salt water intrusion must be weighed along with other change agents such as increased risk of invasions by non-native species, wind damage from storms, and insect and disease outbreaks. Basic questions need to be answered regarding the impacts of wildland fire upon chemical cycling, and net carbon gain or loss in these wetland environments. In order to protect and manage trust species, surrogate species and especially Threatened and Endangered Species, we must seek to understand the direct and indirect impacts from the use of wildland fire as a management tool in wetlands affected by a changing climate.